AMERICAN HARVESTING
Jasper Crospey
American Harvesting
Engraving, 1851
Image size 6 7/8 x 10 1/4" (175 x 260 mm).
Good condition, wide margins. LOCATION: New York City
Inventory Number: 43070
Price: $550.00 Publisher : Published by the American Art-Union, New York. Painted by Jasper F. Cropsey. Engraved by James Smilie. The American Art-Union, a member supported art publisher, annually produced and issued contemporary prints to its subscribers between 1840 and 1851. Originally called the Apollo Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in the United States, the organization was founded by James Herring, a New York businessman and art patron. Herring hoped to support and promote American painters of the popular themes of the day - American history and genre. Although Herring soon broke with the renamed American Art-Union, it continued to thrive as a popular source of American themes in fine art prints. By the end of the decade, the union was so successful that subscribers were treated to additional prints and illustrated books. Original paintings by such artists as Thomas Cole could be won through subscriber lotteries. This engraving, "American Harvesting," was one of five small folio prints subscribers received in the Union's final year, 1851. Demand finally overwhelmed supply and by 1852 the American Art-Union folded under the weight of postage costs and legal restrictions. 18th-19th Century Subjects , Farm & Country Scenes , Outdoors